Gordon Dodge, who helped fight such long odds to get Melksham station re-opened in 1985 - and won - passed away yesterday. My deepest sympathy goes to his wife Audrey and family who have lost a remarkable husband and father.

When I started the "Save the Train" campaign 2 summers ago, Gordon welcomed this upstart into the fold of campaigning for the retention of an appropriate service under the harsh new Greater Western Franchise which puts profit ahead of passengers - and I am very VERY grateful for that. The Melksham Rail Development Group, and the West Wilts Rail User Group (he was Vice Chairman of both) could so easily have taken umbrage at the newcomer, but instead I was welcomed and we worked well together.

It didn't take me long to realise that Gordon was far more active in both groups that his "vice chairman" role implied. A Friend of Melksham Station, Gordon tended the flowers, even though he had to carry the water in his car from home (their being no tap at the station), and last year planted the beds in First Group's colours, even though he shared our disquiet as to what they were doing to our service. That was Gordon for you - welcoming, generous and quietly active.

Gordon Dodge (standing behind Santa) organised the "Santa Special" train trips from Melksham to Swindon in early December each year.

Gordon talked about working at "The Avon" in Melksham, and work in the print shop there. It sounded very much like he loved his work, and when he retired he took further work as a pallbearer, working for our local undertakers. Some of the tales he had to tell ... but never at the expense of anyone, I note (as I don't think he had an ounce of that in him!) had us enthralled.

Still very much an active supporter, Gordon came along to our train meeting early last month - he wasn't feeling (or looking) well, but he was very much an ACTIVE supporter. We were shocked to hear that he was in hospital a week or two later, and we visited him in there. He knew / we knew that there was no certainty that he would pull through, but still we talked of trains, and future, and how we hoped we would be able to arrange a special this summer to Weymouth, and that he would be able to join us on the first day of an appropriate service this coming December.

Gordon's worked for both the local undertakers, and so he's pretty much aware of what'll go on - indeed, he was talking the other week of planning his own funeral and had some very specific ideas. I only heard of his passing a few hours ago, so I can't pass on the details yet - but I will do so.


And I think it would be a good memorial to Gordon is we COULD run a seaside special this summer. And it would be a GREAT memorial if we could get that appropriate service back for the town that he loved, through the station he cherished.
(written 2007-04-16 17:44:31)

 Z100 - Daily life
  [2580] C course inspires new teaching examples - (2010-01-16)
  [2450] Family Gathering at 404, The Spa - (2009-10-11)
  [2371] Quiet summer days? I think not! - (2009-08-22)
  [2264] Learning about others private lives - (2009-06-30)
  [2217] Enjoying the summer weather - (2009-06-04)
  [2164] Updating my public profile - Graham Ellis - (2009-05-09)
  [2159] A long day to guess where - (2009-05-06)
  [2141] Town Crier competiton - (2009-04-25)
  [2121] Out in the Vale of Pewsey - (2009-04-07)
  [2118] Spring Sprung - (2009-04-05)
  [2106] Learning to Twitter / what is Twitter? - (2009-03-28)
  [2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
  [2090] Melksham to Georgia - (2009-03-19)
  [2068] Playing Catchup - (2009-03-06)
  [2064] East of Melksham Countryside - (2009-03-02)
  [2034] Through Snow and Flood to Linux and Tomcat - (2009-02-10)
  [2030] The final step to being British - (2009-02-07)
  [2027] Who sticks by you in the snow? - (2009-02-05)
  [2024] Carry on Training - in spite of the weather - (2009-02-03)
  [2008] The Month Ahead - What is happening in Melksham - (2009-01-25)
  [2000] 2000th article - Remember the background and basics - (2009-01-18)
  [1979] Looking forward, in Melksham, in 2009 - (2009-01-05)
  [1953] End of Training, 2008 - (2008-12-20)
  [1810] Middle aged subsidise young and old - (2008-09-26)
  [1429] Remembrance day - inside a church and inside the day - (2007-11-11)
  [1303] Heading Upstate New York - (2007-08-14)
  [1272] Behind closed doors? - (2007-07-22)
  [1189] Meet, greet and welcome - (2007-05-16)
  [1178] Ducking stool for Melksham? - (2007-05-06)
  [1138] The Holiday - unlikely romantic comedy? - (2007-04-08)
  [1100] Wondering where I have been - (2007-03-06)
  [1061] Take vehicles off the road - put all the passengers into one - (2007-02-01)
  [1057] Selling by phone and Skype - our policy - (2007-01-30)
  [1056] Another frantic posting! - (2007-01-30)
  [992] Enthusiastic, but .... - (2006-12-16)
  [978] Wellhouse Manor, Hotel, Melksham - (2006-12-10)
  [921] French Exchange - (2006-11-11)
  [911] Letter Home - (2006-11-01)
  [908] And so to Inverness - (2006-10-29)
  [897] Too much for the National Trust - (2006-10-18)
  [882] Rocks, hard places, trains and funerals. - (2006-09-30)
  [843] To join an organisation? - (2006-08-23)
  [777] On Crosby sands - (2006-06-25)
  [752] Over zealous police activity? - (2006-06-09)
  [724] Helping mental health through diet, exercise and other lifestyle matters - (2006-05-18)
  [706] May day away - (2006-05-01)
  [698] Catch up weekend - (2006-04-24)
  [692] Healthier eating - (2006-04-20)
  [655] Can some food be TOO different? - (2006-03-23)
  [654] Making use of disabled facilities - (2006-03-22)
  [645] Lost Camel - (2006-03-14)
  [635] Odd one out. - (2006-03-06)
  [623] Behind every face is a person and a story - (2006-02-25)
  [613] Greetings from Dublin - (2006-02-20)
  [612] Coming or going? - (2006-02-18)
  [605] Design your day with a walk - (2006-02-13)
  [584] Loosing breath with Gerald - (2006-01-31)
  [580] What to do with milk - (2006-01-28)
  [516] Open source questions? Anyone can ask. - (2005-12-03)
  [474] Vintage Bus Day - (2005-10-23)
  [473] Looking different in town - (2005-10-22)
  [455] A Stengthening day - (2005-10-04)
  [446] Up early - (2005-09-16)
  [363] Greetings from Edinburgh - (2005-06-29)
  [330] An O level comes in handy - (2005-05-30)
  [307] Farming yesterday - (2005-05-10)
  [283] Natural or man-made? - (2005-04-18)
  [238] Difficulties with a trolley - (2005-03-07)
  [232] Diverse activities - (2005-03-01)
  [228] Beard Justification - (2005-02-26)
  [206] Fox and Python - (2005-02-08)
  [149] Fish stocks - (2004-12-12)
  [110] Friday, busy week! - (2004-11-05)
  [26] Matching Cat - (2004-08-24)
  [20] Not two the same - (2004-08-20)
  [19] interesting products and subjects - (2004-08-19)

Z700 - People
  [2503] Melksham manslaughter case concludes - sort of - (2009-11-14)
  [2132] Learning about Lurchers - (2009-04-18)
  [2100] Visiting Family - (2009-03-23)
  [2078] A lot has changed - but the memory lingers on - (2009-03-12)
  [1988] Melksham, Wiltshire. Town Crier Competition, 2009 - (2009-01-11)
  [1980] Michelle - (2009-01-06)
  [1916] Why I remember East Grafton - (2008-12-02)
  [1627] Amazing family members - (2008-05-02)
  [1570] London Midland ... Merrymaker ... Percy Danks - (2008-03-10)
  [1522] Paging Martin Noke, who petitions for more trains from Trowbridge to Swindon - (2008-01-28)
  [1385] Delegates of all shapes and sizes - (2007-10-09)
  [1279] The Gdansk fireball - (2007-07-27)
  [1238] The kind spirit of Melksham - (2007-06-21)
  [1197] Back off home with our best wishes - (2007-05-21)
  [1119] The Last Word on the road - (2007-03-26)
  [1107] Weekend Visitors - (2007-03-13)
  [1065] Graham Ellis - an Introduction - (2007-02-05)
  [1064] Light and shadows at Beach - (2007-02-04)
  [820] Robert and William Whitworth - (2006-08-01)
  [794] Perl delegate - much more than just a delegate - (2006-07-06)
  [771] From cat breeder to Cobol to Perl - (2006-06-21)
  [763] Much more that the world cup - (2006-06-15)
  [704] Erin Brent - rest in peace - (2006-04-29)
  [650] A person of few words - (2006-03-18)
  [611] Look out for the motor cyclist - (2006-02-17)
  [601] A fond memory of Sir Freddie - (2006-02-11)
  [543] The world didn't stop for Christmas - (2005-12-26)
  [530] Perl course during the week, getting married at the weekend - (2005-12-16)
  [423] A Victorian Lady - (2005-08-23)
  [392] No Smoking - (2005-07-27)
  [207] Canteen Dragon - (2005-02-09)

Back to Helsinki - what comes naturally

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to Course, right place, right time

Pointers in C
As I came back from Tesco
Object Oriented Model - a summary of changes from PHP4 to PHP5
Course, right place, right time
Gordon Dodge, R.I.P.
Helsinki - what comes naturally
Turning objects into something you can store - Pickling (Python)
Python decorators - wrapping a method call in extra code
A picture (mostly in words) of Helsinki
__new__ v __init__ - python constructor alternatives?